Today is Monday; 11th of the Iranian month of Bahman 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 1st of the Islamic month of Jamadi al-Awwal 1438 lunar hijri; and January 30, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1016 lunar years ago, on this day in 422 AH, Mas’oud crowned himself sultan in Herat, Khorasan, after deposing, blinding and imprisoning his twin brother Mohammad, who had ascended the throne in the capital Ghazni as per the will of his father, the fearsome Turkic conqueror Sultan Mahmoud. Mas’oud had initially requested his brother to give him three of the provinces he had won by his sword in Iran, and the refusal led to civil war between the two brothers. Mas’oud during his almost decade long rule, proved incapable of preserving the Ghaznavid Empire in eastern Iran and southern Transoxiana following the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Dandanaqan by the Seljuq Turks. His last act was to collect treasures from all his forts in the hope of assembling an army to rule from India but his own forces plundered the wealth, forcing him to proclaim his blind brother as king again after ten years. The position of the two brothers was now reversed; Mohammad from a prison was elevated to the throne and Mas’oud from a throne was consigned to a dungeon, where he was assassinated. Soon his son, Maudoud, rebelled against his blind uncle defeated his sons at the Battle of Nangarhar, and seized the throne.

979 lunar years ago, on this day in 459 AH, the Iranian literary figure and poet, Sharaf od-Din Khaled Fini Kashani, was born in Kashan. He served as assistant to the famous Seljuqid vizier Khaja Nizam ul-Mulk Tusi, on whose assassination he resigned his post and settled in the Iraq port city of Basra, spending his years in study and research. He has penned memoirs of his days in administrative posts at the Seljuqid court in Isfahan. It is a fine specimen of Persian prose and includes poems of prominent classical poets.

637 lunar years ago, on this day in 801 AH, the fearsome Turko-Mongol invader, Amir Timur Gurkani captured Meerut north of Delhi. Days earlier, he had ordered a general massacre in Delhi, killing tens of thousands of people, before proceeding to the banks of River Ganges to defeat a Hindu force near Tughlaqpur, and an Indian Muslim army under Mubarak Khan. He then defeated Malik Shaikha at Kutila (Hardwar), and started his return march to his capital Samarqand (in what is now Uzbekistan) through the Siwalik Hills, where he gained a victory on the 15th of Jamadi al-Awwal over Ratan Sen and captured Nagarkot (Kangra).

522 lunar years ago, on this day in 916 AH, Da’ud Khan of the Faruqi Dynasty of Khandesh in Central India, died after a reign of 7 years, during which he was totally dependent on his two brothers, Hussain Ali and Yar Ali, with the former serving as vizier of the state. Because of ill advice, he attacked the Nizamshahi Dynasty of Ahmadnagar, but the latter’s army marched into Khandesh, almost making him lose his kingdom which was only saved by his pleas of help to the Sultan of Malwa, who forced him to become his subordinate. His son and successor, Ghazni Khan, was killed by poisoning within ten days of his death, prompting the kingdoms of Berar and Ahmadnagar to install his cousin, Alam Khan, as ruler, a move that was opposed by Mahmoud Shah, the powerful sultan of Gujarat, who instead sent an army to crown another member of the Faruqi Dynasty as Adil Khan III. Founded in 1382 by Malik Ahmad Raja Faruqi, the son of a Rajput convert to Islam who served Sultan Feroze Shah Tughlaq of Delhi, Khandesh and its capital Burhanpur, were annexed by the Moghal Emperor Jalal od-Din Akbar in 1601. The Sultanate was a Persianate society, and made contributions to Persian literature, art and architecture. Islam was promoted through peaceful means, as is evident today by the large number of Tadvi Bhils, and Raj Gonds, who are Muslims.

461 solar years ago, on this day in 1556 AD, the 2nd Moghal Emperor of Hindustan (northern subcontinent), Naseer od-Din Mohammad Humayun, died in Delhi, as a result of a fatal blow to his head, three days after tumbling down the stairs of his library with his arms full of books, when he caught his foot in his robe, while bowing in reverence on hearing the call of the muezzin for prayer. He was 48 years old and his death occurred only a year after recovering with Iranian help the kingdom he had lost 15 years earlier to the Pashturn adventurer, Sher Shah Suri. Born in Kabul (in present day Afghanistan), he was 22 years old when he succeeded his father, Zaheer od-Din Babar in India in 1530, while his step-brother Kamran Mirza, obtained the sovereignty of Kabul and Lahore. His peaceful personality, patience and non-provocative methods, in addition to his addiction to opium, cost him the kingdom ten years later, forcing him to flee to Safavid Iran, where he was cordially received by Shah Tahmasp I, who provided him aid to regain the Moghal Empire. Humayun's return from Iran, accompanied by a large retinue of Iranian noblemen, signalled an important change in Moghal court culture, as the Central Asian origins of the dynasty were largely overshadowed by the influences of Persian art, architecture, language and literature.  His most noted achievement was in the sphere of painting. His devotion to the early Safavid School, developed during his stay in Iran, led him to recruit Persian painters of merit to accompany him back to India. These artists laid the foundation of the Moghal style which emerged from its Persian chrysalis as an indigenous achievement in which Indian elements blended harmoniously with the traditions of Iran and Central Asia. Even Humayun's tomb, built by his widow, Hamida Bano Begum (daughter of Shaikh Ali Akbar Jami, an Iranian Shi'ite Muslim descended from the mystic Shaikh Ahmad Jami of Torbat-e Jam in Khorasan), fits into the Iranian tradition of imperial mausoleums. It is said Humayun had embraced the school of the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt. He was succeeded by his son, Akbar.

356 solar years ago, on this day in 1661 AD, in a sadistically repulsive act, King Charles II of Britain on the 12th anniversary of the execution of his father, King Charles I by Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, exhumes the latter’s grave and orders the ritual beheading of the corpse more than two years after burial.

228 solar years ago, on this day in 1789AD, the forces of Tay Sơn emerged victorious against Qing armies of China, and liberated the capital Thang Long.

128 lunar years ago, on this day in 1309 AH, the Source of Emulation, Grand Ayatolllah Mirza Mohammad Hassan Hussaini Shirazi, issued his historic fatwa (edict) against consumption of tobacco in Iran in order to prevent the undermining of Iranian economy by the British colonialists. The inefficient Qajarid king, Naser od-Din Shah, under pressure from Britain granted Major G. F. Talbot a 50-year monopoly for cultivation and production of tobacco in Iran, as well as its exclusive sale and export through the British Regie company. The Iranian people outraged by the selling of national resources and honour for a paltry sum of British pounds, appealed to the religious leaders, who in turn demanded cancellation of the grant.  When the Shah remained unmoved and news reached the holy city of Samarra in Iraq, where the leading jurisprudence Grand Ayatollah Mirza Hassan Hussaini Shiraz, he promptly sent a telegram to the Iranian king warning him of the ruin he was bringing upon the Iranian economy and harming national sovereignty. When Naser od-Din Shah failed to heed the warnings, Ayatollah Mirza Hassan Shirazi had no other choice but issue a Fatwa prohibiting use of tobacco, with the words: “Any use of tobacco from now onwards would be considered war against the Lord of the Age, Imam Mahdi (AS) – the 12^th and Last Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).” Immediately, the people of Iran obeyed the edict, and throughout the country refrained from buying, selling and using tobacco. The ban even spread to the royal palace, where the queen ordered the breaking of all tobacco pipes and the traditional huqqas. When Naser od-Din Shah asked her, on whose orders she had done such a thing, she promptly replied: “On the orders of the person who has legalized husband-and-wife relations between me and you.” The Shah had no other choice but to cancel the tobacco concession.

Born in Shiraz, Ayatollah Mirza Hassan Shirazi mastered various branches of Islamic sciences in holy Najaf Iraq, under such great scholars as Ayatollah Sheikh Morteza Ansari Dezfuli, before settling in Samarra, where he passed away at the age of 82. This erudite scholar also championed the rights of Shi’a Muslims in Afghanistan, and sent missionaries to India, Kashmir, the Caucasus, and other parts of the Muslim World. He trained a great number of scholars such as the Ayatollahs Sheikh Fazlollah Noori, Mirza Husain Noori Tabarsi, Ismail as-Sadr, Mohammad Hussain Na’ini, Mohammed Kazem Yazdi Abdul-Karim Ha'eri Yazdi (Reviver of the Qom Seminary), and Mirza Mohammad Taqi Golshani Shirazi (leader of the 1920 revolution of Iraq against British rule).

116 solar years ago, on this day in 1901 AD, the world's tallest geyser was discovered by Dr Humphrey Haines on the North Island of New Zealand. It appeared after an enormous eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886. The Waimangu Geyser was the largest geyser in the world and erupted on a 36 hour cycle for four years, hurling black mud and rocks in the air. Waimangu is Maori for "black water." It stopped in 1904 when a landslide changed the local water table. Eruptions would typically reach 600 feet. Some super bursts are known to have reached 1,600 feet (10 times as high as Yellowstone's famous Old Faithful, and which would be higher than the Empire State Building.)

92 solar years ago, on this day in 1925 AD, US electrical engineer Douglas Carl Engelbart the inventor of the computer mouse, which he patented in November 1970, was born. For input, he also collaborated in the invention of joystick, track ball and light pen devices. It was part of his larger work developing a computer graphical user interface (as opposed to merely keyboard input and text display). This involved a multiple window display, and the ability to display not only text, but also images, audio, video in a single document. After earning his Ph.D in 1955, he joined the Stanford Research Institute. On 9 December 1968, at a computer conference, he conducted the world's first video conference, multiple window display, as well as collaboration online, and his mouse device for input.

83 solar years ago, on this day in 1934 AD, the dictatorial rule of German Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler, as chancellor and president commenced. Earlier in 1930, his National Socialist Party had won the legislative elections by securing 107 seats in the Reichstag. Soon Hitler proclaimed himself the sole leader. He set up the dreaded SS security organization and sent his opponents to labour camps. A person of doubtful parentage, Hitler massacred millions of people for his racist goals. He ignited the flames of World War II by occupying the Danzig Corridor in Poland in 1939. Germany and its Axis allies were defeated in World War II and Hitler committed suicide.

69 solar years ago, on this day in 1948 AD, leader of India's struggle for independence from British colonial rule, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, was assassinated by radical Hindu at the age 79. Born in the port city of Por Bandar in Gujarat, he graduated in Law from England, and for a while was in South Africa where he tried to improve the situation of Indian settlers. After returning to India he involved himself in politics and was sentenced to six years in prison in 1922. After his release, he advocated the policy of passive resistance against the British, and although a non-Muslim, he said that he learned this non-violent movement by studying the exemplary life of the Martyr of Karbala, Imam Husain (AS), the younger grandson and 3rd Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). India gained independence in August 1947.

69 solar years ago, on this day in 1948 AD, American inventor and aviator, Orville Wright, who along with his brother, Wilbur, had invented on 17 December 1903 the first powered airplane, “Flyer”, capable of sustained, controlled flight, died at the age 76. At Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville made the first ever manned powered flight, airborne for 12-second. By 1905, the two brothers had improved the design, built and made several long flights in Flyer III, which was the first fully practical airplane able to fly up to 38-min and travel 24 miles (39-km). In 1908 they produced Model A, capable of flight for over two hours of flight. After Wilbur died of typhoid in 1912, Orville sold his interest in the Wright Company in 1915. The history of aviation is as old as Man’s quest to fly since antiquity. In the heyday of Islamic science and civilization, there are records pertaining to the Spanish Muslim polymath, Abbas ibn Firnas, who flew from Jabal al-Arous Hill by employing a rudimentary glider in the 9th century AD.

49 solar years ago, on this day in 1968 AD, during the Vietnam War, the Viet Cong forces of the south along with the North Vietnam army decisively confronted the US occupiers in fifty towns and cities simultaneously. They mobilized public opinion against the US meddlers, and despite being massacred in large numbers by the savage Americans, they continued their resistance until final victory in 1975 that expelled the US and reunited Vietnam.

38 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, the demoralized forces of the Shah’s regime staged a parade in the streets of Tehran in a futile bid to scare the Iranian Muslim nation. To the horror of the generals, during the parade, many of the soldiers joined the masses and expressed solidarity with the Islamic Movement against the despotic British-installed and US-supported Pahlavi regime. At the same time, news agencies announced that the Father of Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA) would be leaving Paris at 3:30 a.m. local time on February 1, and arriving in Tehran at 9:30 a.m. On hearing this, people poured into the streets to prepare a glorious welcome home to their beloved leader.

32 solar years ago, on this day in 1985 AD, the US openly gave a 47-million dollar loan to Saddam of Baghdad’s repressive Ba’th minority regime for procurement of weapons, during the 8-year war Washington had imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran through Iraq. The total declared US grants to Saddam during his war were 1.5 billion dollars, in addition to supply of internationally banned chemical, latest defence technology, and information on movement of Iranian forces through spy aircraft.

4 solar years ago, on this day in 2013 AD, Dr. Hassan Ibrahim Habibi, Iranian revolutionary politician, lawyer, scholar, head of Academy of Persian Language and Literature, and the First Vice President for 13 years (1989-2001), passed away in Tehran at the age of 76. He held a PhD in law and sociology. While he was a university student in Paris he visited the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), during the latter’s brief stay in a village near Paris, and was tasked to draft the prospective constitution of Iran. After victory of the Iranian revolution, Habibi was named public spokesman for the revolutionary council. He was elected to the Majlis, and later served as the minister of justice. He was also head of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature, in addition to being a member of the State Expediency Council. Among his books are: “God” (1981), “Society, Culture, Politics” (1984), “Islam and the Crisis of Our Time” (1984).

AS/MG